Fabric Halloween Banner

Published: October 11, 2011

Banners, buntings, garlands or whatever you want to call them are a great decoration for any room.
I call them banners and I’m in love with them!

No matter the occasion, banners are such a fun way to add the finishing touch to a room.
You can hang your banner on a wall, a mantle, a doorway, a window,
inside or outside, wherever you’d like.
They’re very versatile.

The best part is that banners are super simple to make and I’m going to show you how.
I’m sure there are lots of different ways to make banners, just as there are lots of different styles.

This one is a classic and you can adjust the colors and fabric to match any season or event.

Gather your supplies together.
If your fabric is wrinkled you’ll want to iron it before you start cutting.

To insure that your triangles are all the same size you will need a pattern.
I made my own template by folding a piece of paper in half and cutting it diagonally.

It’s an equilateral triangle, my 10 year old informed me.
Doesn’t that take you back to 4th grade math class?

Trace your template onto your fabric.
How many triangles you trace is really up to you.
It depends on how many triangles you want on your banner.

I wanted to have 3 triangles of each color, and because this banner is double sided
I traced 6 triangles onto each color of fabric.
I really should be using a fabric pen instead of a regular pen.
Do as I say, not as I do!

Using your rotary cutter, cut out your triangles.

Admire your pile of triangles.

Match up the right sides of the fabric and pin together.
Begin sewing your triangles together, removing the pins as you sew.

Turn when you reach the point and continue sewing to the top.
You only need to sew the 2 sides of your triangle.
DO NOT sew your triangle shut!

Sew the triangles one after another, there’s no need to cut each one, you can cut it later.
Just make sure to leave room in between triangles.

This sounds more complicated than it really is.
If you can sew a straight line, you can do this.
Just look, a ten year old can do it! She’s very proud!

After you finish sewing it will be time to iron.
Pay no attention to the ironing board behind the fabric.
It has been well used!
Snip the edges all the way around the triangle.
This will help it lay flat.
Be careful not to cut your stitches!

Pin your remaining triangles the same way.
If I had planned it right I should have used 2 long pieces of ribbon
and “sandwiched” the triangles in between.

I’m not going to worry about it because my banner will be strung across my mantle
and no one will see the back.

If I decide to move it in the middle of the room or something I will add another ribbon.
I hope this is making sense so far.

Now that you have your triangles all pinned, it’s time to sew your triangles to the ribbon
Sew a straight line down the edge of the ribbon; remove your pins as you sew.

Sew to the last triangle. Back stitch and cut your thread.
Trim the triangle edges if they are showing.

This is where my son ran in and decided that he wanted to be the one to hang the banner.
How could I say no to that face?

Display your banner in your home and smile every time you look at it!

This is the part where I tell you that we are renting our house and
that if we owned it the mirror above the fireplace would be the first thing to go!
Or maybe the awful chandelier you can see in the horrible mirror!
Still, I do love having a mantle to decorate!

Doesn’t my mantle look happy with it’s new banner?
If you notice the chalkboard, you’ll see the fabric rosettes I made using my leftover fabric.
I use velcro to switch it up for different holidays.

So, there you go! Aren’t you excited to make a banner of your own?
Depending on what kind of look you would like, you can do as much or as little sewing as you want.

If you like the look of a raw edge you can forgo sewing the triangles together.

If you’re short on time you could forget the sewing altogether
and hot glue those triangles on the ribbon.

I think this is a terrific idea for seasonal decorating and it wont’ take up much storage space. You could also, use velcro on the flags and use a “generic” ribbon and change out the flags just as you do with the rosettes. **Just sayin** =)